Faster train Brussels-Amsterdam gets also criticism

Since yesterday, ticket sales have started for the faster trains that will run between Brussels and Amsterdam from mid-December. From Brussels to Amsterdam, a ticket for the new Eurocity Direct costs between 25 and 64,1 euros, and to Rotterdam on the Eurocity, it costs between 13,1 and 32,7 euros.

However, the passenger organization TreinTramBus is unhappy that extra trains between Brussels and Amsterdam will be at the expense of domestic connections.

Eurocity Direct and Eurocity

From December 15, the Belgian public train company NMBS/SNCB and the Dutch railways NS will split the Benelux train into two connections with 16 daily trains. A new fast train between Brussels-South/Midi and Amsterdam-South, under the name Eurocity Direct, will only stop at Antwerp-Central, Rotterdam-Central, and Schiphol, making the entire journey 45 minutes faster than the current IC connection.

In addition, the current connection will continue to exist under the name Eurocity. Still, it will be shortened to the route between Brussels-South and Rotterdam-Central, and the current Dutch ICR trains will also gradually be replaced by I11 trains of the NMBS/SNCB from December. As before, the stops during the journey will be Brussels-Central, Brussels-North, Brussels Airport-Zaventem, Mechelen, Mechelen, Antwerp-Berchem, Antwerp-Central, Noorderkempen, and Breda.

Domestic travel remains possible on Eurocity; therefore, NMBS/SNCB tickets are also valid in Belgium. That is not the case with Eurocity Direct, for which NS is putting in new ICNG trains. In fact, NS is already starting trial runs this month, and travelers who book a ticket between Amsterdam and Brussels will soon have the opportunity to board one of the new trains.

TreinTramBus not happy

However, the passenger organization TreinTramBus is unhappy that extra trains between Brussels and Amsterdam will be at the expense of domestic connections. “While the number of trains between the Netherlands and Belgium will double, the number of trains between Antwerp and Brussels will decrease by a quarter,” stresses chairman Peter Meukens. Starting December 15, only three instead of four IC trains per hour will cross Mechelen between the country’s two largest cities.

At the top, domestic travelers in the Netherlands can use that train, but not in Belgium. The NMBS/SNCB prohibits Belgian train passengers from taking the Eurocity Direct from Antwerp to Brussels. “We can’t understand that at all,” Meukens says. “That will be chaos because already travelers have to stand up due to a lack of seating possibilities and space.”

Eurostar picks up the train path

According to the NMBS/SNCB, it will not receive train paths for the IC22 Brussels-Antwerp due to a shortage of infrastructure on the railroad network and after an arbitration procedure initiated by railroad manager Infrabel, which caused it to lose these train paths to Eurostar, in which NMBS/SNCB has a one-fifth stake.

Consequently, as of December, in addition to the two suburban S trains, there will be four instead of five IC trains per hour between Antwerp and Brussels, one of which will call at Brussels Airport.

NMBS/SNCB also points out that the government statement and, thus, their business planning also provide for the further development of an international offer. “Without this agreement, we would not have had a train connection with the Netherlands after December 2024, a train connection that has existed since 1957.”

As of December, a new classic train connection between Brussels and Paris (via Mons) will also be established. The connection was temporarily revived last summer during the Olympic Games in the French capital. The connection already bore the name Eurocity; it is not clear whether it will be retained.